Crime Scene: A Novel

Eccentric, reclusive Walter Rennert lies cold at the bottom of his stairs. At first glance the scene looks straightforward: a once-respected psychology professor done in by booze and a bad heart. But his daughter, Tatiana, insists that her father has been murdered, and she persuades Clay Edison to take a closer look at the grim facts of Rennert's life. What emerges is a history of scandal and violence and an experiment gone horribly wrong that ended in the brutal murder of a coed.

The Girl in the Ice: Detective Erika Foster Crime Thriller, Book 1

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation. The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound, and dumped in water around London.

The Crossing Places

When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, Ruth Galloway lectures at the University of North Norfolk. She lives happily alone in a remote place called Saltmarsh overlooking the North Sea and, for company; she has her cats Flint and Sparky, and Radio 4. When a child's bones are found in the marshes near an ancient site that Ruth worked on ten years earlier, Ruth is asked to date them.

Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor

The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite this setback, she became queen, mother of two kings, grandmother of the current queen, and a lasting symbol of the majesty of the British throne.

The Distant Hours

Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.

A Dark So Deadly

Welcome to the Misfit Mob... It's where Police Scotland dumps the officers it can't get rid of but wants to: the outcasts, the troublemakers, the compromised. Officers like DC Callum MacGregor, lumbered with all the boring go-nowhere cases. So when an ancient mummy turns up at the Oldcastle tip, it's his job to find out which museum it's been stolen from. But then Callum uncovers links between his ancient corpse and three missing young men, and life starts to get a lot more interesting.

Murder Games

Dr. Dylan Reinhart wrote the book on criminal behavior. Literally - he's a renowned, best-selling Ivy League expert on the subject. When a copy of his book turns up at a gruesome murder scene - along with a threatening message from the killer - it looks like someone has been taking notes. Elizabeth Needham is the headstrong and brilliant NYPD Detective in charge of the case who recruits Dylan to help investigate another souvenir left at the scene - a playing card.

The Late Show

Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none, as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor. But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn.

The Last Detective: An Inspector Peter Diamond Investigation

Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is the last detective: a genuine gumshoe, committed to door-stopping and deduction rather than fancy computer gadgetry. So when the naked body of a woman is found floating in the weeds in a lake near Bath with no one willing to identify her, no marks, and no murder weapon, his sleuthing abilities are tested to the limit.

Dark Crimes: DCI Sophie Allen, Book 1

A young woman's body is discovered on a deserted footpath. It seems like a simple crime for DCI Sophie Allen and her team to solve. But not when the victim's mother is found strangled the next morning. The case grows more complex as DCI Sophie Allen discovers that the victims had secret histories, involving violence and intimidation. There's an obvious suspect, but Detective Allen isn't convinced. Could someone else be lurking in the shadows, someone savagely violent, looking for warped revenge?

Cold Granite: Logan McRae, Book 1

It's DS Logan McRae's first day back on the job after a year off on the sick, and it couldn't get much worse. Three-year-old David Reid's body is discovered in a ditch: strangled, mutilated and a long time dead. And he's only the first. There's a serial killer stalking the Granite City, and the local media are baying for blood. Soon the dead are piling up in the morgue almost as fast as the snow on the streets, and Logan knows time is running out. More children are going missing. More are going to die.

Silent Scream: Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller, Book 1

Five figures gather 'round a shallow grave. They had all taken turns to dig. An adult-sized hole would have taken longer. An innocent life had been taken, but the pact had been made. Their secrets would be buried, bound in blood. Years later a headmistress is found brutally strangled, the first in a spate of gruesome murders that shock the Black Country.

Magpie Murders: A Novel

When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the best-selling crime writer for years, she's intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan's traditional formula has proved hugely successful.

Dead Souls: Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller Series, Book 6

When a collection of human bones is unearthed during a routine archaeological dig, a Black Country field suddenly becomes a complex crime scene for Detective Kim Stone. As the bones are sorted, it becomes clear that the grave contains more than one victim. The bodies hint at unimaginable horror, bearing the markings of bullet holes and animal traps. Forced to work alongside Detective Travis, with whom she shares a troubled past, Kim begins to uncover a dark, secretive relationship between the families who own the land in which the bodies were found.

Pandemic: The Extinction Files, Book 1

In Atlanta, Dr. Peyton Shaw is awakened by the phone call she has dreaded for years. As the CDC's leading epidemiologist, she's among the first responders to outbreaks around the world. It's a lonely and dangerous job, but it's her life - and she's good at it. This time she may have met her match. In Kenya, an Ebola-like pathogen has infected two Americans. One lies at death's door. With the clock ticking, Peyton assembles her team and joins personnel from the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the WHO.

You Belong to Me: A Novel

Paul Reeves is a successful immigration lawyer, but his passion is collecting old maps of New York, tangible records of the city's rich history in an increasingly digital world. One afternoon he attends an auction with his neighbor Jennifer Mehraz, the beautiful young wife of an Iranian financier-lawyer, but halfway through the auction a handsome man in soldier fatigues appears in the aisle and whisks Jennifer away.

Meet Mike Daley. Ex-priest. Ex-public defender. And as of yesterday, ex-partner in one of San Francisco's most prominent law firms. Today he's out on his own, setting up practice on the wrong side of town. Then his best friend and former colleague is charged with a brutal double murder, and Daley is instantly catapulted into a high-profile investigation involving the prestigious law firm that just booted him. As he prepares his case, Daley uncovers the firm's dirtiest secrets.

A Tapping at My Door

From the best-selling author of Cry Baby, the beginning of a brilliant and gripping police procedural series set in Liverpool, perfect for fans of Peter James and Mark Billingham. A woman at home in Liverpool is disturbed by a persistent tapping at her back door. She's disturbed to discover the culprit is a raven and tries to shoo it away. Which is when the killer strikes. DS Nathan Cody, still bearing the scars of an undercover mission that went horrifyingly wrong, is put on the case.

Raven Black: Book One of the Shetland Island Quartet

It is a cold January morning, and Shetland lies beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a splash of color on the frozen ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbor, Catherine Ross. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait.

Some Danger Involved: Barker & Llewelyn Series, Book 1

An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar in London's Jewish ghetto. When the eccentric and enigmatic Barker takes the case, he must hire an assistant, and out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved", he chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man with a murky past.

Come Sundown

The Bodine ranch and resort in western Montana is a family business, an idyllic spot for vacationers. A little over thirty thousand acres and home to four generations, it's kept running by Bodine Longbow with the help of a large staff, including new hire Callen Skinner. There was another member of the family once: Bodine's aunt, Alice, who ran off before Bodine was born. She never returned, and the Longbows don't talk about her much. The younger ones, who never met her, quietly presume she's dead.

Crime on the Fens: DI Nikki Galena, Book 1

DI Nikki Galena: A police detective with nothing left to lose, she's seen a girl die in her arms, and her daughter will never leave the hospital again. She's gotten tough on the criminals she believes did this to her. Too tough. And now she's been given one final warning: make it work with her new sergeant, DS Joseph Easter, or she's out.

Rules of Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel

The "maddog" murderer who is terrorizing the Twin Cities is two things: insane and extremely intelligent. He kills for the pleasure of it and thoroughly enjoys placing elaborate obstacles to keep police befuddled. Each clever move he makes is another point of pride. But when the brilliant Lieutenant Lucas Davenport, a dedicated cop and a serial killer's worst nightmare, is brought in to take up the investigation, the maddog suddenly has an adversary worthy of his genius.

The Widow

When the police started asking questions, Jean Taylor turned into a different woman. One who enabled her and her husband to carry on when more bad things began to happen... But that woman's husband died last week. And Jean doesn't have to be her anymore. There's a lot Jean hasn't said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment.

Publisher's Summary

When lawyer Jenny Cooper is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she’s hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce. But the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence.

Could the tragic death in custody of a young boy be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? Jenny’s curiosity is aroused. Why was Marshall behaving so strangely before he died? What injustice was he planning to uncover? And what caused his abrupt change of heart?

I really recommend this - an excellent read with an engaging heroine and very good plot. Very well read by Sian Thomas - don't miss it!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Rogayah

Reading, United Kingdom

8/3/10

Overall

"Justice"

This was a good story and I am going to keep track of M. R. Hall who seems to write a murder story with a twist. The coroner is normally consigned to a brief mention in most detective story but here takes centre stage.

The coroner battles with a complex situation, her personal problems and sexual prejudice amongst other things. I was rooting for her and was glad she stuck with it.

An excellent, entertaining story and was well read.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Nicola

Folkestone, United Kingdom

7/7/12

Overall

"very poor"

This book started well and I was looking forward to listening to a thriller from a different angle ie the Coroner.
Sadly the central character Jenny Cooper turns into an obnoxious, arrogant and totally unbelievable person whose own personal problems completely overwhelm the rest of the story.
I have listened to the first 3 books in this series and they get more unbelievable as they go on and Cooper becomes more arrogant and obnoxious.
A real shame as this could have been an excellent series

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

catsatcastle

UK

2/20/11

Overall

"Oh dear"

This started off promisingly - a new woman coroner with personal problems who nevertheless sets about investigating two cases left by her predecessor. For two-thirds of the book I was with her as she gradually uncovered bits and pieces of evidence in those cases with the help of her ex-detective coroner's officer. Sadly, it became too overblown as her anger with pretty much everyone and everything boiled over. That rather spoilt the tension of the court scenes, which were otherwise interesting, as the tension arose from the worry about whether she would hold it together.

We know from the outset that she is seeing a therapist and that there is some trauma buried deep in her memory from her childhood. She has had a nervous breakdown and has left her previous job in family law to take up this new post. This is to be a fresh start for her after her divorce.

Unfortunately, she degenerates from pill-popping and being almost in control of her anger to borderline psychotic with suicidal tendencies. I could just about suspend disbelief so far as to accept that she was appointed in the first place but was amazed she was able to stay in her job for any length of time.

The baddies have no light and shade. There are some characters who have their feet on the ground (sadly not the coroner herself) who offer some blessed moments of calm.

The narration is excellent. I have given it three stars as, despite the unease I felt about the central character, it was an interesting story but I don't think I want to spend any more time in the company of Jenny Cooper. I found myself hoping that the villager with whom she develops a friendship runs a mile as she is poison!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Elizabeth

Cornwall, United Kingdom

1/17/11

Overall

"enjoyable listen"

its a bit slow to start, but good once it gets going, didn't really know a Coroner could do the investigating, some of it seems a bit unlikely, but it is well read and you are willing the heroine to do well. Moves at a good pace and no confusing legal jargon

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Susan L.

United Kingdom

7/7/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"Loved it!"

I had never read a book by this author but was so impressed, and moved by his cleverly emotive style of writing, that I subsequently bought the entire series. Could not recommend highly enough.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Preston

5/2/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"Ok but!"

Story is ok but a bit long winded and predictable. Some of the behaviour of the main character felt unrealistic

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Clare

LONDON, United Kingdom

6/5/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Great start to a series!"

Really enjoyed this... Good plot, interesting insight into role of a coroner and well read! Not gruesome or scary, just a good, pacy thriller! Am new to this author, but immediately downloaded the next two in the series when I finished this... It's that good!! Highly recommend!!

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Jane

Shetland, United Kingdom

5/27/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Started well, but became wearisome!"

The book started well but I got fed up with the main character and found I did not sympathise with her hopelessness. Her dependency became the main theme of the story and went on ad nauseum - it was a relief to get to the end, and has decided me not to try other books by this author.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

James 'Hulk' Hogan

Not currently in this dimension.....

10/29/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Enough with the tranqs and anxiety......"

Where does The Coroner rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have only listened to four, so I'd have to say fourth but I liked it a lot...

What other book might you compare The Coroner to, and why?

Many many of its genre are similar but the pace and building to the end is very well done.

Which character – as performed by Sian Thomas – was your favourite?

The pompous barrister....

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Nope...I am somewhat too far along the psychopath scale for that to be relevant to me.....

Any additional comments?

Very well written and wel voiced, my only annoyance is the over egging of the tranqs and anxiety bit...I know it knid of forms part of the story but there is FAR too much of it for my liking....makes you start to want to slap the main character...really hard.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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